Bulls-Heat Preview

By TIM REYNOLDSPosted May 14 2013 1:37PM

MIAMI (AP) Dwyane Wade is limping around in obvious pain. LeBron James' shooting percentage is down. Shane Battier and Ray Allen have struggled to get anything going from 3-point range.

The Eastern Conference semifinals have been far from perfect for the Miami Heat.

And the reigning NBA champions are now in absolute control of this series nonetheless.

Barely a week ago, there was so much talk about how the Chicago Bulls had Miami's number like no other team. That seems long forgotten now, after three straight wins - by an average of 23.3 points - have the Heat one win away from returning to the East finals. Up 3-1 in the series, the Heat will try to close out the Bulls in Game 5 at Miami on Wednesday night.

"You have to have a high-character team," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Tuesday, a few hours after his team returned from Chicago after an 88-65 rout in Game 4 of the suddenly one-sided series. "You have to have a team that's built strong habits ... not to take games for granted. Our guys have built up habits. They also have built up perspective that boy, these close-out games have been the toughest ones."

When Miami gets a chance to finish off an opponent, it typically doesn't waste any time. Since James, Wade and Chris Bosh joined up, the Heat are 8-2 in games where they can clinch a series, winning each of their last five by double figures.

Given the way this series is going, it's not hard to envision Wednesday ending the same way.

"Got to take care of business," Bosh said.

The Bulls outscored the Heat in Game 1, tried to outmuscle them in Games 2 and 3, and then simply looked outmanned in Game 4. Derrick Rose has been gone all season, Kirk Hinrich hasn't played since logging 60 minutes in Chicago's triple-overtime Game 4 against Brooklyn in the opening round and Luol Deng is still dealing with the effects of a nasty bout of illness.

On Wednesday, the Bulls shot just under 26 percent, scored nine points in the third quarter and saw Nate Robinson - Chicago's best offensive weapon in these playoffs - take 12 shots and miss them all.

"Nobody said this was going to be easy," Robinson said. "We're professionals for a reason. We'll go back to the drawing board and figure it out."

They better figure it out in a hurry.

In a series where Wade - averaging just 11.3 points in the four games - has been limited by continued issues with the bone bruises in his right knee, where James' shooting is down more than 10 percent from his regular-season pace and Battier and Allen have combined to go 9 for 34 from beyond the 3-point arc,

Miami has been rolling along anyway.

"You analyze what happened in the game, make your corrections, get ready for the next one. We'll just keep our focus right there," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "I don't what them looking backwards. I don't want them looking ahead. Just lock into the game that's in front of us and concentrate on winning that game. We know we're capable."

There are so many battles for the Bulls to face right now, all of them being of the uphill variety. No team has ever won four games at Miami in the same season, which Chicago would have to do to pull off this most improbable of comeback bids. There's the emotional toll that losing three straight games has taken, frustration over how injuries and illness depleted the roster, and it's a fair question to ask how much the Bulls might have left in their proverbial tank.

Added center Joakim Noah: "We're still alive. There's still basketball to be played and we've got to fight."

Wade is doing plenty of fighting on his own.

He was briefly sent to the bench in the second quarter of Game 4 after an inadvertent knee-to-knee collision with Chicago's Jimmy Butler caught him in one of the particularly more tender spots on the bruised joint. He returned, was scoreless for just the seventh time in a first half in his career, and finished with only six points.

The Heat have outscored the Bulls by 49 points with Wade on the floor in this series, tied with Battier for the best plus-minus on the team.

"Dwyane has proven himself as a warrior," Spoelstra said. "He's helping us win."

Wade has just 31 points in the last three games. Miami has won those games by a combined 70 points, and if they win Game 5 on Wednesday, the Heat would get possibly another full week off to allow Wade time to rest that knee.

The East finals aren't scheduled to start until May 20 or May 22.

"It's just frustrating at times, but just try to do what you can," Wade said. "Sometimes it feels good, sometimes it doesn't. You can't predict it."

Regardless of Wade's health issues, Miami is anxious to clear the Chicago hurdle. The Bulls nearly wasted a 3-1 lead in the first round against Brooklyn, advancing by winning a Game 7 on the road. And Spoelstra is leery of giving Chicago any glimmer of hope.

"We have to go in with the mindset to really approach this with desperation and urgency," Spoelstra said. "You don't want to give this team second life. They're far too dangerous for that type of mentality because they just continue to grind and they compete and we know that. We respect that."

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Heat rally past Bulls to advance, 94-91

By TIM REYNOLDSPosted May 15 2013 10:55PM

MIAMI (AP) Knowing his team needed him at his best, Dwyane Wade retreated to the Miami Heat locker room after the third quarter for some quick treatment on his aching right knee.

When he came back, he was good as new.

And now he can rest until the Eastern Conference finals.

LeBron James scored 23 points, Wade added 18 and had a brilliant 45-second sequence that proved crucial, and the Heat clawed back from an 11-point second-half deficit to beat the Chicago Bulls 94-91 on Wednesday night and close out their second-round series in five games.

"We gave it everything we had," James said. "I have no energy left."

The Heat outscored Chicago 25-14 in the fourth quarter to escape and advance.

"I knew the fourth quarter was going to be tough so I wanted to re-tape my knee," said Wade, who has been battling bone bruises on his knee for several weeks. "I knew I was going to come back into a grind. Our trainers did a great job of getting it taped it enough so I could come out and play."

Did they ever.

Wade had a blocked shot, defensive rebound, offensive rebound and putback slam - all in a late 45-second span - to help cap a wild night of wild comebacks. The Heat blew an early 18-point lead, then pulled off a late rally to finish off the depleted Bulls, who still had two chances on their last possession to force overtime.

But Nate Robinson and Jimmy Butler missed 3-pointers, time expired, and Miami moved on to face Indiana or New York next week.

"Dwyane is uncanny," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "When the competition is at its highest, and its fiercest, he finds a way."

Carlos Boozer finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls, who were without Derrick Rose for the 99th straight game, as well as Kirk Hinrich (calf) and Luol Deng (illness). Robinson scored 21 points, Butler had 19, and Richard Hamilton 15 for the Bulls, who dropped the final four games of the series.

"Obviously we're disappointed in losing the series," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "But I was never disappointed in our team. I thought our team fought hard all year long. There was no quit in them."

True - all the way to the end.

A team that played without the 2011 NBA MVP in Rose, and dealt with a slew of other issues along the way, was within a couple shots from forcing the reigning champions to fly back to Chicago for a Game 6 on Friday night.

The Heat say they have more than a few of those warrior-types as well, including Wade, who said privately before the game that he was amused about constant speculation surrounding his knee - which has been banged up for weeks.

When the stakes were highest Wednesday, he was there for the Heat.

"I'll go on and on about how great he is," James said. "I really don't care for the trash talk that he receives."

Shane Battier opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to get Miami within five. Another 3-pointer from Battier - over Boozer, his fellow Duke alum - came not long afterward, and he connected on a pair of free throws after being fouled on a 3-point try to cut Chicago's lead to 81-79.

Norris Cole had a pair of baskets, the second being a left-handed driving dunk, to put Miami on top, and the Heat found a way to close it out from there, even though it wasn't easy, by any measure.

Robinson's 3-pointer with 1:43 left got the Bulls to 94-91. No one scored again, even though there were plenty of chances both ways.

When it was finally over, the Heat lingered on the court in celebration. Wade held on to the game ball as he shook a few fans' hands, and he, James and Bosh exchanged some high-fives - the last three Miami players to leave the floor.

"I had a good couple of minutes," Wade said. "I knew they've seen a lot of LeBron and Norris. I knew they weren't prepared for me to attack which is what I was able to do."

Miami will open the East finals at home next week, and it'll be a playoff rematch from its march to the title last season. If Indiana beats New York - the Pacers lead that series 3-1 - on Thursday night, then the Heat and Pacers will meet in Game 1 in Miami on Monday night. If the Knicks extend the Pacers to at least six games, then the East finals would open Wednesday night, regardless of opponent.

The Heat will almost surely be big favorites against either Indiana or New York, though it's certain either opponent would enter a series against Miami with plenty of confidence. The Knicks went 3-1 against the Heat this season, outscoring them by 11.5 points per game and winning both of their games at Miami convincingly. The Pacers went 2-1 against the Heat, winning twice in Indianapolis and losing their lone game in Miami.

To put that in some more perspective, the Heat went 2-5 against the Knicks and Pacers, and are now 72-12 against all other NBA clubs this season.

"It only gets more difficult and more challenging," Spoelstra said. "That's what competitors want."

Then again, given how Miami has played over the last 3 1/2 months, the notion of the Heat losing to anybody four times might seem downright impossible. The Heat lost at Indiana on Feb. 1. They won at Toronto two days later, the first victory in what became a run of 27 straight wins - and the start of a stretch that has seen Miami go 45-3 in its last 48 games.

More than half the league - 17 of the other 29 teams - didn't win 45 games, total, this season, even including playoffs.

"They're a great team. A great team," Thibodeau said. "They're not going to beat themselves. You have to beat them.

No one would have thought the ending would be so exciting after the way this one started.

Marco Belinelli took the Bulls' first shot, a woefully short airball. Joakim Noah took their second shot, a very long airball. Their third possession was a turnover, and the night was shaping up like a Chicago disaster.

It was 10-0 before half the crowd was in their seats, and 22-4 just past the midpoint of the opening quarter. Since the start of Game 4, in barely over 53 minutes of play, the Heat had outscored the Bulls by 40 points. Everyone in the building - except for the 20 or so guys in red uniforms or wearing suits on the Chicago bench - had to be thinking that the series was over.

If so, then they were all wrong.

Game 5 turned into a microcosm of the Bulls' season. They were unfazed, unflappable, unrelenting in the face of being counted out.

And before long, the massive deficit was a thing of the past.

"We kept fighting," Noah said. "And kept fighting."

Boozer went 6 for 7 in the opening quarter, his layup late in the period getting the Bulls within seven before James scored to end the first and give Miami a 30-21 lead. The Bulls were unbothered, and just kept getting stops on one end, making baskets on the other. Butler's 3-pointer with 4:46 left in the half gave Chicago its first advantage of the night, 38-36.

To recap, the game started with a 22-4 Heat run - and in the 13 minutes that immediately followed, the Bulls rebutted with a 34-14 burst.

By halftime, it was 53-47. In the third, after Chicago briefly led by 11 - remember, they were down 18, making that a 29-point turnaround - the Bulls took a 77-69 edge into the final 12 minutes.

"We grinded it out," Boozer said. "We had chances. We just fell a little bit short."

And Miami moved on, now halfway home in its quest for a second straight title.

NOTES: Miami is 6-0 in its last six chances to close out a series. ... The Bulls had 16 turnovers, which Miami turned into 27 points. ... Hinrich's calf injury was improving, the Bulls said, but not to the point where he could play.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Heat 94, Bulls 91

THE FACTS: LeBron James scored 23 points and a resurgent Dwyane Wade added 18 points to lead the Miami Heat past the Chicago Bulls 94-91 Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena, clinching the series 4-1 and advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for a third straight year.

James and Wade were key in helping the Heat avoid blowing an early 18-point lead and then overcoming an 11-point, second-half deficit. The Bulls led 75-64 with 1:50 left in the third quarter before the Heat rallied in the fourth.

The Heat grabbed their first lead of the second half, 82-81, on Norris Cole's jumpshot with 6:48 remaining. Miami then did just enough to hold off the Bulls, who had two chances to tie in the closing seconds. Richard Hamilton and Jimmy Butler each missed 3-pointers that would have potentially forced overtime.

Carlos Boozer led the Bulls with 26 points and 14 rebounds.

QUOTABLE: "It's a shame. I think everybody wanted to see both teams healthy. You survive and move on ... We all know they've gone through a great deal of adversity. Everybody wanted to see both teams compete."

--Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on the Bulls

THE STAT: The Heat held the Bulls to just 14 points on 6-for-18 shooting in the fourth quarter.

TURNING POINT: Trailing by 11, the Heat went on a 10-2 run late in the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. It got them back into the game before the strong finish.

QUOTABLE II: "It is sort of the story of the season. I told these guys this yesterday. Obviously, we're disappointed in losing the series, but I was never disappointed in the team. I thought our team fought hard all year long."

--Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau

HOT: Boozer was huge for the Bulls all the game, except when the team needed him most. He missed a short jumper in the closing seconds that would have pulled them to within a point. Still, he finished 10-for-19 from the field and kept his team in the game.

NOT: Marco Belinelli finished with just three points, ending a tough series for him. His struggles showed just how much Chicago missed Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich.

GOOD MOVE: The decision to move Wade on Hamilton was the right call. Hamilton was the difference-maker until Wade delivered some solid defense in the fourth quarter. Hamilton scored just four points in the fourth.

BAD MOVE: With the season on the line, Hamilton and Butler both had clean looks to potentially force overtime. Hamilton passed up an open 3 in the corner while Butler missed badly on another good look.

UP NEXT: The Heat will play the New York Knicks or Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.